Embracing Death

I was taking a power-nap and was lucid dreaming. It was a very interesting dream. Instead of me talking about the dream, I will pose a scenario for you.

Envision (feel it) yourself as an observer of your own dead self. Look at the past and look at the events that has passed in your life. Are you dissatisfied with your inaction towards what you really want to do in your life? You probably are. I know I was. I saw myself regretting that I wasn’t taking more action in learning about social dynamics, and success. When you are dead, you can’t change anything. You can’t go back and decide on the alternate life you wanted to have because you’re dead. You can’t choose to experiment more in life because you’re dead. You can’t choose to have made an effort to start your own business because you’re dead. You can’t decide to try out a new lifestyle (whether you believe in it being a good one or not) because you’re dead.

No wonder why death is a powerful tool. I’ve heard of some people using the idea of death as a motivator to get things done. This is precisely what I intend this post to be. I think Steve Jobs used death as a motivator.

I went to the hospital the other day to visit some sick elderly patients. Some had motivation, and some just lived in their own misery. I prefer being the former, but I know that the later is stronger. I don’t want to get older and become sickly, but I know it’s going to happen. It’s already happening now. I can feel old-age creeping up on me slowly. I’m only 24 (almost 25), and know that eventually I’m going to die, as much as everyone I know is. The best thing you can get in life is the satisfaction that you have a positive impact on people. This positive impact transcends age; it goes well into generations and forms a great destiny for future generations if it is powerful enough. I knew my life was not mediocre and I can see more of why it isn’t. The bottom-line of what I’ve realized is that I need to take more action with what I want, and with what I want to do because I want to improve myself greatly before I die. Death is inevitable, and there is no fear that is greater than the power of death as a motivator to take action. If I can’t define what I want, assume I want it. I will conclude with a quote from Og Mandino, and remember, Live with Passion.

“To be always intending to make a new and better life but never to find time to set about it is as to put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to the next until you’re dead.” – Og Mandino

ADDENDUM: I was requested to talk about the dream, so here goes.
The dream was about me being an observer of my own funeral (in an open-casket indoors) and I was like I could’ve been a guy that had tried living a rock star lifestyle, or been the businessman guy and lived that lifestyle, or the dedicated husband and father lifestyle, or the rich lifestyle, but I wasn’t any of those because I was always putting off my success because I never chose something because of my inaction and the fear of me not knowing what I want. Inaction killed me and brought me to the death that I never wanted, or the life I never had. I realized that even though I don’t know what I want, if I definitely know that I don’t want it, then it’s not for me. But if I’m unsure, then I have to take action on it immediately, without procrastination, and figure out if it’s palatable. If I don’t dislike it, then I want to take action on it because it may be what I’ve wanted all my life.